1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recoverable connector structure, and more particularly, to a recoverable connector structure and a cradle having the same for charging an electronic device or transmitting data from/to the electronic device.
2. Description of the Related Art
The electronic devices, such as PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), generally include a plurality of connectors for supporting various functions, such as the power I/O connector and the pluggable card connector. For the power I/O connector, it is generally designed as at the bottom of PDA, and when the PDA is charged, one terminal (a female connector) of the power I/O connector in the PDA is plugged onto one terminal (a male connector) of the power I/O connector in the cradle. In addition, a USB cable assembly is coupled with the power I/O connector of the cradle for connecting to a computer host. Accordingly, the PDA can exchange data (such as calendar update) with the computer host through the USB cable assembly and the power I/O connector of the cradle.
FIG. 1 schematically shows a fixed structure of a conventional connector. A cradle 100 is generally used, such that a first connector 20 (the female connector) at the bottom of the PDA 10 can be firmly plugged into a second connector 104 (the male connector). Wherein, the cradle 100 mainly comprises a case having a groove 102, a second connector 104, a circuit board 106, and a base plate 108. The groove 102 holds the bottom of the PDA 10, and the front end of the second connector 104 protrudes from the groove 102 and is firmly connected with the first connector 20 at the bottom of the PDA 10. In addition, the circuit board 106 is fixed on the base plate 108 with the screw 110 when it is assembled. To be noted, when the PDA 10 is disposed in the groove 102, the back panel 12 of the PDA 10 is placed on the inner wall of the groove 102 with a slant angle. In addition, the second connector 104 is vertically fixed on the circuit board 106, and protrudes from the groove 102 with the same slant angle.
However, when the connector end (such as the bottom end) of the PDA 10 is plugged into the case groove 102, the second connector 104 is fixed on the cradle 100 by a fixed structure (including the circuit board 106, the base plate 108, and the screw 110), such that the first connector 20 connecting to the PDA 10 would not be shaken. But an alignment stress can occur between two connectors 20 and 104 due to alignment tolerance of the fixed structure, especially when the PDA 10 had been plugged in and out from the second connector 104 of the cradle 100 for multiple times, thus a solder connection between the circuit board 106 and the second connector 104 of the cradle 100 is easily broken, leading to poor contact. In addition, regarding the stress buffering effect, since the fixed structure of the second connector 104 cannot buffer the external force, if there is inappropriate external force (or bending force) applied on the second connector 104 of the cradle 100, the solder connection between the second connector 104 and the circuit board 106 can be easily broken, leading to poor contact and deteriorating the reliability of the second connector 104. In addition, when pulling out the electronic device from the cradle, the process is not very smooth for the conventional technique. Moreover, if the user does not plug in and pull out the PDA 10 carefully with the right angle, the applied force would generate a bending stress on the solder connection between the connector and the circuit board. When the stress exceeds a certain level, the solder connection would break and the cradle can no longer function.